


An Idea

by tridecaphilia



Series: In which there are Climbers [1]
Category: The Maze Runner (2014), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Pre-Canon, The Glade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 19:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3989179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tridecaphilia/pseuds/tridecaphilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning, there were only Runners.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Idea

“Where’s Newt?”

Minho turned to look at Alby, eyebrows raised. “Where do you think?” he asked, nodding to the wall behind the Homestead. “Where is he always after he gets back from running?”

Alby sighed, rubbing a hand over his shaved head. “Why’s he do that?” he wondered aloud. “Why does he always go up the walls when he’s just exhausted himself running? The kid’s the size of a bird, I still don’t know how he has the strength to run at all.”

“Yeah,” Minho said distantly, eyes fixed on the figure on the wall. Newt was wearing the hoodie Alby had given him that first night, the one that hung almost to his knees. Probably the most impressive thing about the kid’s hobby of climbing the ivy-covered walls was that he could maneuver while wearing that thing. He tied it around his waist when he ran, and it trailed on the ground.

“He’s losing hope.”

The Runner hadn’t really meant to say that out loud, but there it was. He kept going. “Every day he goes up those things I watch just to make sure he doesn’t let go. I think he’s practicing to jump one day. He’ll just sprint ahead of me, turn a few corners, and climb until his arms give out.”

Alby frowned. “You think he’d do that?”

“He knows,” Minho said. “We’ve been running the Maze for a year now. He’s memorized every day of the cycle. There’s nothing left to give him hope.”

Alby shook his head. “There’s something left. There’s got to be.”

“Maybe there is,” Minho said.

Alby looked at him quizzically. The Runner was looking up at the small boy on the wall, eyes narrowed consideringly.

“Maybe,” Minho said slowly, “we’re looking in the wrong place.”

Alby followed his gaze and smiled. “That could work. You think he’d still jump?”

“No. Not unless we exhausted that too, and that’ll give us like a million more square feet to search every day. I’m still not convinced something won’t show up on the ground, but--this’ll give him something to do. A way to feel needed. He needs that, needs hope.”

Minho knew Newt better than anyone else in the Glade. They’d been running partners for the first few months, until they’d decided to split up to cover more ground. “Then call him down,” Alby said. “We’ll run it by him.”

~

“Newt! Get down here!”

Newt looked down the formidable drop to where Minho stood below, side-by-side with Nick and Alby. His old running partner waved. “Come on!” he yelled. “Down here, now! We wanna talk to you!”

Newt grinned and let go.

He heard the yells below him before he grabbed hold of another vine ten feet lower. He looked down. “You didn’t think I was seriously gonna jump, did you?” he yelled down. He laughed and scrambled down, so fast anyone else would have fallen.

He turned, looking up at the others. He was still small, a year after coming up in the Box, still looked so much younger than the fifteen they thought he was based on his mind. “What do you want?” he asked.

Alby looked at Minho. Minho looked at Nick. Nick nodded to the Runner to talk.

“We think,” Minho said, “that we’ve been overlooking something. When we’ve been trying to get out.”

“What’s that?” Newt asked.

“The walls.”

Newt frowned, lifting a thumbnail to his mouth and chewing on it thoughtfully.

Minho went on, “We think the answer might be higher up. We want you to look--to climb the walls instead of running the ground.”

“Minho will stay with you for a while,” Nick added. “He’ll stay on the ground and you’ll climb above him. If it works out, we’ll have a new job--Climbers. You’ll be the Keeper.”

Newt considered, still chewing his nail.

“What do you think?” Nick asked.

He hesitated. “It’s an idea.”

“Do you want to try it?”

Another moment of hesitation, and he nodded.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Climbers were the invention of malblake on Tumblr, who gave permission for me to use them.
> 
> This is planned as a series of oneshots. Because it's mostly canon-compliant, I'm going to skip around and focus on the things that defy canon. Those of you who read my writing consistently know that usually I have a schedule, but this time I'm not going to. This is going to be a more relaxed thing for me to write when I have ideas for it. You can prompt anything you might like to see in the verse in the comments.


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